This Sunday on MHP, it’s about the mothers.
In Cleveland, Samaria Rice mourns her son Tamir, who was shot and killed by a police officer almost six months ago. 12-year-old Tamir’s death caught the attention of the nation, but despite the protests and outrage, Samaria has yet to bury her son because of the dragging criminal investigation into his death. Samaria asked the authorities this week to finally resolve the case. “In less than a second my son is gone,” Samaria said. “And I want to know how long I’ve got to wait for justice.”
In Jacksonville, Angie Nixon saw that her daughter Natalie wasn’t fond of reading or her natural hair, and decided to do something about it. Angie and Natalie joined forces and “The Adventures of Moxie Girl” was born. The titular heroine, with the help of her grandma’s special shampoo, fights monsters who are out to destroy the public library. The comic won more than $16,000 at One Spark, the world’s largest crowdfunding festival, and will be published in June.
And in Hollywood, Actress Sofia Vergara is in a legal battle with her ex-fiance Nick Loeb over their frozen embryos. In his New York Times Op-Ed, Loeb argued that he should have the right to raise the embryos on his own, despite the fact the he and Vergara had a contract specifying that both of them had to agree to the embryos’ use. Vergara, who already has a grown son, is forced to publically defend her choice to not be a biological mother a second time over.
Joining Melissa Harris-Perry for Mother’s Day are:
- Melissa Brisman, Reproductive Rights Attorney
- Danielle Moodie-Mills, Co-host of Politini
- Michael Skolnik, Editor-in-Chief of GlobalGrind.com
- Dr. Robert Klitzman, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
- Jonathan Rosa, Assistant Professor of Linguistic and Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst
- Tara Conley, Social Media Manager at Race Forward
- Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, Fellowship of Reconciliation
- Dominque Stevenson, Community Organizer in Baltimore
- Natalie McGriff, Creator of “The Adventures of Moxie Girl,” and her mother, Angie Nixon
And we take a look at the #BlackLivesMatter movement – what drives it, and how it is changing the conversation on race in this country. We’ll speak to one key activist from the movement and journalists who cover it about how the "the most formidable American protest movement of the 21st century to date" has taken shape in the nine months since Michael Brown’s death.
Then, we take a look at what the public thinks of race in America since the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Freddie Gray. Hint: it’s not good. A new poll by CBS News and The New York Times shows that 61% of Americans think that the state of racial interaction is bad. While white and black respondents were in agreement over that point, there were some major points of divergence. When it comes to law enforcement, 79% of African-American respondents believe officers are more likely to use deadly force against black people than white people, while 53% of white respondents think race has nothing to do with it.
Also joining Melissa Harris-Perry on Sunday are:
- Wesley Lowery, Political Reporter for The Washington Post
- Jay Caspian Kang, Writer for The New York Times Magazine
- DeRay McKessen, WeTheProtesters.org
- Casey Gerald, Co-Founder & CEO of MBAs Across America
- Dominque Stevenson, Community Organizer in Baltimore
Tune in to Melissa Harris-Perry Sunday at 10am ET on msnbc. Join the conversation—share your thoughts about these issues on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nerdland.